Early Goal Sinks Women's Soccer at San Francisco
10/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's soccer team suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of the San Francisco Dons on the road on Friday night.
The Waves gave up an early first-half goal and couldn't find the equalizer despite a 15-11 shot advantage in the game. Pepperdine falls to 6-5-2, 1-2-0 WCC with the loss, while San Francisco improves to 8-2-3, 2-0-0 WCC.
On a foggy night in the Bay Area, San Francisco capitalized on a loose ball in the box in the 16th minute, with Sonja Giraud putting away her fourth goal of the year to put the home team ahead 1-0. It was the first shot of the game for the Dons and one of just two in the half.
Pepperdine fired off eight shots in the opening half, with three going on target.
Meghan Schoen (Sherwood, Ore./Sherwood HS) was the first to test San Francisco's keeper Madalyn Schiffel, putting a shot on goal in the sixth minute to open the attack. Just over six minutes later, Taylor Alvarado (Santa Paula, Calif./Santa Paula HS) had another chance for the Waves, but Schiffel was again there to make the save.
Jamie Van Horn (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley HS) got her head on a corner kick that was also saved in the 22nd minute.
The Waves had several chances late in the game, one of which came in the 62nd minute when Schoen got the ball deep in the box, but was swarmed by the Dons' defense before she could get a clean shot off.
Hailey Harbison (Rancho Penasquitos, Calif./Westview HS) put a shot on goal that Schiffel made a diving save against in the 73rd minute and then in the 79th minute Michelle Maemone (San Jose, Calif./The King's Academy) fired a shot that was just knocked off the crossbar by the Dons' keeper.
The best chance of the game came in the 84th minute when the Waves drew a penalty in the box, but the kick went wide, all but sealing the shutout defeat on the road.
It was the second straight 1-0 loss in which the Waves have outshot their opponent and held the majority of possession.
Pepperdine will be back in action on Sunday when they travel to No. 25 Santa Clara. Kick off for that game will be at 1 p.m. and can be seen on TheW.tv.
